Ickaprick & Ironpussy promotes dialogue on important queer issues

Keeping it accessible and informative

When I was first coming out, I was pretty intimidated by all of the things I didn’t know. I remember being really stressed that it would be discovered during my much anticipated first time that I was horribly uninformed about universally-understood safe sex and pubic-grooming norms. I certainly hadn’t heard, let alone considered, the terms “fluid-bonded”, “HIV stigma” or the phrase “sex work is real work” before.

Though I am now surrounded by a more sex-positive community, I still find myself scrabbling to catch up, often feeling too uninformed to express opinions about an entire gamut of issues that everyone around me seems to already know about.

Thankfully the Ickaprick & Ironpussy blog has me covered. It’s informative, educational and, at times, downright ridiculous. The author, a former outreach worker for the AIDS Committee Ottawa (ACO), researches stories from other news sources and websites that are related to sex, sexuality and sex work that I wouldn’t have sought out on my own. The topics are relevant and timely — from HIV prevention to poppers, from big dicks to body-hair grooming. Posts are written in a non-assuming, accessible tone, often starting or ending with an inviting, “What do you think?” — a question that most opinionated self-indulgent bloggers, myself included, rarely stop to ask.